City Of Angels
by The Raider
Summary: Major AU. Based off the movie of the same name. Angelus is an angel, helping the dead cross over into the other realm. One day he arrives to take someone from their deathbed, an action that brings him into contact with a young medical student named Buffy Summers. What will he do when he finds himself strangely attracted to this girl?
1. Prologue & Sixteen Years Later

**Just a few notes about this story, mainly to avoid people being utterly confused and lost. This story is based off the 1998 movie "City of Angels" that starred Nic Cage and Meg Ryan. The basic plot of the movie is that Nic Cage's character is an angel who falls in love with Meg Ryan's character, and as a result, he gives up being an angel so he can be with her. The entire time I was watching the film, I was really reminded of how Buffy and Angel, and once the plot bunny attacked me, I couldn't get rid of it, so here the story is!**

**Second note: Angel is called Angelus in this story, but he's NOT, and I repeat, NOT, evil in this. I thought that it would be better to use his full name instead of just "Angel" because, let's face it, an angel named Angel would be really kinda corny.**

**Well, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy or Angel. They belong to Joss Whedon. Nor do I own the movie "City of Angels". **

* * *

**City Of Angels**

**Prologue**

As the sun began to rise in the distance, the large group of angels stood silently on the cold sands as the song overtook their ears, the sound of it such a beautiful thing that humans would never hear in their entire lifetimes. As the waves continued to hit against the sands behind them, the angels continued their watch of silence, unseen by anyone.

That was their role in life, to watch over the humans, remaining out of sight unless they were needed by one of them. They were silent protectors, visitors to their souls in their final moments of death, and guides to heaven once that person had finally passed on to the other life. No-one knew they existed, but yet, somehow they knew that they were being watched over in some distinct way.

Maybe that was why they called Los Angeles "The City of Angels."

* * *

The scene was overwhelmingly sad, to anyone that could actually feel the emotions coursing through the room that is. As he continued to watch the various relatives crying around the man's deathbed, Angelus could only know that it would be over soon. No-one could see him, but he could see them, could see each tear flowing down their cheeks.

Seeing humans cry always fascinated him, considering that it was one of the acts he was incapable of doing. The fascination had lasted centuries, and he knew that it would never truely go away. No matter how many times he watched the humans, he would always feel some curiosity as to how it actually felt to cry, to let the wet tears flow down your cheeks, to feel an emotion so strongly that it made you show it on your face for all to see.

In particular, he found his eyes being caught by a small child simply staring at the man on the hospital bed, her cheeks the only ones in the room not stained by tears. Her mother on the other hand was crying almost hysterically as she continued to hold her daughter. How they were related to the dying man, he couldn't say. Still, he found himself unable to take his eyes off of her. Another thing that fascinated him was the fact that many young children didn't usually respond with the same emotions or actions that their elders did. It was simply as if the pain of watching a loved one pass away didn't affect them until they were much older. Over the course of his 'career', he had come to the conclusion that it was due to their brains still not being fully developed, but still, the way they ignored emotions was 'odd', for lack of a better term.

"Mommy?" The child asked, looking up at her mother in the process. "Why is everyone crying?"

"Well, Buffy, we're all sad because Grandpa is going to Heaven, and we won't be able to see him for a long, long time." Her mother answered, looking down into her daughter's eyes.

"What's Heaven like, mommy?"

"It's a place where you go when you get old, and you're not sad anymore, you can only be happy when you're there." Angelus smirked at the explanation, knowing that the description wasn't completely true, but it was still enough to be considered partially correct. Over the years, he had heard many different interpretations of what Heaven was supposed to look and feel like, each one more different than the last. There were often times that he would simply go through and compare the different versions that existed, if only to pass the time. They amused him.

"Is Grandpa going to be an angel?" The child asked again, the question being met with a slight smile from her mother.

"Yes, he's going to be our angel, he'll be watching over us all the time. So whenever you feel sad, remember that he's going to be up there, watching over us." As the child's mother finished talking, the room grew silent again for a moment before one of the doctor's came into the room, the look on her face completely void of emotion. He had seen her a few times before, each time with that same expression. Somehow she had grown used to doing this, however crazy the idea may have seemed.

"Mrs. Crembly." She said, addressing the man's wife. "It's time. We need to…pull the plug." The man's wife was silent, whatever tears she had cried earlier already dried on her cheeks. Nodding, she gestured to the other family members that it was time to leave. As they left, Angelus watched them for a moment more before he switched his attention to the doctor. From where she was standing, she nodded to the other medical personnel that had followed her into the room. They moved swiftly, and within minutes, the heartbeat monitor that had lay attached to the man went flatline, and as he returned to his feet, Angelus helped the man to his feet, and as they walked silently out the door, they continued into the white light that illuminated the end of the hallway before them.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

**Sixteen Years Later**

The traffic continued to rush by underneath the road sign, the drivers obviously oblivious to the two angels that sat above them, simply watching their vehicles pass by. As they continued to watch the various vehicles roll past, Angelus and Spike were almost utterly silent in their observations, as they almost always were. Tossing the cigarette in his mouth towards the ground below, Spike blew the smoke out into the air.

"You know, the humans always say that these things will kill you. I don't see what all the fuss is about."

"It's something inside them." Angelus replied, his eyes still focused on the traffic zooming by below his feet. "Something that makes them get sick. It's strange really. If it hurts them so much, why would they make them?"

"Eh, the buggers probably worry about it too much. Worrying doesn't do so well for them. I've seen my fair share of 'em brought to an early death by simply worrying about it too much."

"Still, you think they would have learned by now, don't you?"

"Depends. I honestly don't think that all the humans are all too bright. Some of them just lack the same kind of brain that others do." Spike answered, looking out across the skyline that spread out in the distance. "Then again, I suppose we can't all be that lucky."

"We were never human, Spike. We can't ever know what it's like to be one of them."

"You say that like it's a bad thing, cuddles." Turning his head back to face him, Spike looked at him for a only a moment more before he continued to speak. "Besides, we all know that its all you dream about it."

"It's nothing more than dreams. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Ah, and in that, see, lays the issue. You don't believe that yourself. We all know that it's all you think about sometimes, being one of them. Feeling emotions, taste, love. You desire it more than anything."

"And that's all it is. Needless desire. Wishing for something that you can't obtain. How many times have you seen it happen to the humans, Spike?"

"Plenty. Doesn't mean that it changes in any way. Either way, it's still rather sad."

* * *

As she continued to push her bike down the crowded streets, Buffy Summers could feel the wind pushing back her hair, the feeling of it a welcome one considering how hot it was outside at the moment. Not to say that she was complaining, there had been days when it had been hotter outside, this day was still relatively cool in comparison. Still, at least she wasn't going to be late like she had been yesterday. That hadn't looked professional in any means, and that was something she couldn't afford to have happen again. Not if she wanted to get an official position at the hospital, and actually get some pay rolling in.

Hopping her bike up onto the sidewalk, she could already see the old stone architecture of the hospital up ahead, the entire area 'quiet' as she approached it, which was strange considering that there weren't any sirens going off around her or coming from the streets. Still, it was only momentary, and she would, without a doubt in her mind, start hearing the sirens approaching again soon enough. It never fully stopped, just simply took a break.

* * *

The locker room was almost completely empty as she opened the door, which in itself wasn't strange, considering that she worked hours where hardly anyone was ever busy. Originally she had wanted to work one of the busier shifts, in hopes of perhaps clocking in some real hours, but the people up top had decided against it. Something regarding experience, but then again, wasn't that what she was here to _gain_?

Peeling off her hoodie, Buffy stuffed it inside the open locker in front of her. Even though it had been hot outside, she had still chosen to wear the hoodie, knowing from personal experience that you could still get chills from riding down the interstate. She hadn't been sick for at least five months now, and she was looking to keep it that way. Pulling on the rest of her 'uniform', she closed the locker and walked out of the room to begin her shift.

* * *

It was almost always in hospitals nowadays. It wasn't like it used to be half a century ago, when everyone had almost always died in the privacy of their own homes, surrounded by their loved ones. Somewhere along the line, people's ideas about hospitals had changed somewhat. Sure, there were still plenty of people who still died inside their homes, but not in the droves that they once had. It was becoming somewhat of a rarity.

Some part of him wished that the years had gone by so quickly. As he walked through the somewhat crowded halls, Angelus' pace was somewhat slow, as if he were simply trying to keep the noise he was making to a minimal, even though he knew from years of experience that no-one could or would hear him. He didn't know why he did it to be honest. Maybe it was just another one of his attempts to pretend that he was human, if only for a moment.

Spike hadn't been lying when he had said that it was all that he dreamed about. For centuries he had done his job, and he had done a damn good job of it. But still, there had to be something else out there for him. Something that would make everything he was actually mean something to someone.  
Something would actually make him feel something.

It was only foolish dreams. He thought, shaking his head in the process. He had been doing this job for centuries, and dreaming about something wouldn't make it come true. He had come to guide another soul to heaven, and that was what he was going to do. There was nothing else beyond it, no way out of it. He vaguely recalled some statement from one of the humans that seemed appropriate for the situation.

_Life's not fair._

Someone had told him that years ago, and those words had stuck with him for some time now. He didn't know why they always were present in his immediate thoughts, maybe it was something to do with the look that the man's eyes had held when he had said those words to him. They had held strong emotions, some of the strongest that he had ever seen in his 'life-time'. Perhaps that's why they had looked so..._haunting_ to him, as strange as it had been to describe that thought.

* * *

Pulling off the scrub cap that was wrapped around her hair, Buffy could still hear the steady sound of the man's heartbeat as the monitor echoed through the room. Behind her, some of the other medical personnel were beginning to clean up the room surrounding the patient. Doctor Chase had already left, no-doubt getting ready to go home from his busy shift. Out of everyone here, he worked the most hours per week, often going hours without rest. How he did, she didn't know, but from what she had seen of his work, he was someone to be admired and respected.

Running a hand through her brown hair, she closed her eyes for a moment, her brain screaming at her for rest. Considering that she was 'running' on only three or four hours of sleep, she felt inclined to agree with her body. She knew it wasn't healthy to be out and doing things without that much sleep, but she had tried many different, so-called 'solutions', and each one had simply left her feeling worse than she had before. So far, reading had been her main source of comfort, but even that couldn't save her from feeling exhausted on her shift.

"Buffy?" She heard someone say from behind her, the sudden sound of it making her jump slightly. Turning around swiftly, her heart beat slowly began to return to normal once she saw that it was just Riley.

"Jesus, Riley, you scared me."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to catch you off-guard like that." He replied, noticing the slightly black 'bags' underneath her eyes as he spoke. "You still have trouble sleeping?"

"Yeah." She answered, slightly caught off-guard by the subject change. Still, she tried her best to straighten her posture and answer her friend. "Those pills that they gave me didn't work too well."

"Strange. Maybe you just need a higher dose?"

"Possibly. Still, I'm rather not have them so high that I start falling asleep while we're in there."

"True." Riley said, a slight chuckle running underneath his voice. "Something tells me that wouldn't get you that job you're looking for." The two of them grew silent for a moment before he spoke again.

"Maybe you should go home and get some rest. I'm sure the people up-top would understand."

"No, I'm fine, really, just a little slagged. I think I'm just gonna go grab something to eat, and maybe I'll be a little more alert then." She replied, making her way towards the door in the process. As she opened it and walked out into the hall, she rubbed her eyelids before she continued, the sounds of the hospital echoing in her ears along with her footsteps.

* * *

**So... thoughts? Leave 'em in the review box, you know the deal.**


	2. First Sight And Breakdown

**First off, thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'm glad you like it so far! I hope that you'll continue to enjoy what I write!**

**I thought I would get this out of the way, just to avoid any confusion later on down the road. This story is supposed to take place in 2001, considering that Buffy is twenty years old, while in the prologue of the story she was five, and she was born in nineteen-eighty one. So, it all checks out. Didn't want people to think that she was already a medical student at a major hospital when she was 17, that would just be practically impossible.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy or Angel, they belong to Joss Whedon. I don't own the City of Angels movie either. I'm just combining two things I like :)**

**The songs "Hanging By A Moment" and "Sick Cycle Carousel" are by Lifehouse, and as such, I do not own them.**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Pushing the quarter into the slot, Buffy waited until she heard the somewhat satisfying sound of the candy bar dropping to the bottom of the machine. As she gripped the bar in her hand, she could already feel her stomach feeling a little better, although she couldn't imagine why, considering that she had eaten breakfast only a few hours ago.

As she began to open the bar's wrapper, she thought she saw someone watching her out of the corner of her eye, but as she lifted her head to give the person her full line of sight, she found herself faced with just an empty hallway. Still, for some reason she continued to stare at the place where she could have sworn that she had seen someone standing, the pure black color of that person's attire having stood out against the white and blue hallway completely.

Turning on her heel, she started back towards the operating room, passing a few other patients along the way. She smiled at them, trying her best to look happy. In a place like this, keeping people positive was part of the key to helping them, considering that many instantly felt uneasy staying in a hospital, a feeling that was still extremely present in the minds of many people in the world. Her mother was still like that somewhat, and it hadn't been so long ago that she had shared the same feelings.

As she opened the door, she could already tell that something was wrong when she heard the heart-monitor flat-lining, the sound of it making her heart drop into the very depths of her stomach. As she rushed into the room, she could see some of the other personnel already trying to get the man's heart to start beating again.

Grabbing her mask, she quickly got it around her mouth and nose and rushed into the room, her entrance being ignored by the other personnel. The heartbeat monitor was still ringing in her ears as she stopped, trying to get a better look at what was happening. Whatever the other personnel in the room were doing, it obviously wasn't having any effect, the grim sound of the monitor still flat lining being all that was needed to realize that.

"What's wrong with him?" She asked, trying not to make her voice sound like it wasn't filled with fear.

"Can't say." Riley said, looking up from the patient for just a split second. "Buffy, go get Doctor Chase, he should still be in the building."

"But where..." She started before he interrupted her.

"JUST GO!" The words had barely left his lips before she was out the door, her feet going as fast as she could possibly manage. A few people turned to look at her as she rushed through the hall, peering into every room along the way, her head darting back and forth in the process.

* * *

He watched as she rushed out of the room, his interest perked away from the scene unfolding in front of him. Looking back down at the man dying before his eyes, he cast his eyes back at the door, managing to catch one last glance of her before she was completely out of sight. The doctors were trying their best to revive the man, but he already knew in advance that it wouldn't do them any good. The man's time was already up, and it was beyond their control to alter in any way.

He already knew that they had only three or four minutes left before they realized that it was a lost cause, their options already running out as he continued to watch. Still, he was curious to see how the girl… Buffy, yes, that was her name… would be holding up from all of this. From what he had seen from only a few moments of observation, she was an adept at hiding her emotions, but that skill didn't extend to hiding them from an angel. No, he could see exactly what she was feeling, her emotions shining as bright as the sun outside the building.

Closing his eyes for only a second, he opened them to find himself in the same hallway that she was running through, her hair bobbing up and down as she ran, the scrub hat she had been wearing earlier gripped in her hand. She stopped suddenly, rushing into one of the rooms nearest to her, her voice echoing out into the hallway as she spoke with someone else, most likely the other doctor that...Riley, was it?... had sent her to find.

Within moments, both the girl and the doctor had rushed out of the room, his longer legs enabling him to run faster than she could, although she still managed to at least somewhat keep up with him. He watched them until they ran into the operating room, and only then did he close his eyes again. Upon opening them, he found himself back inside the same room he had been in earlier, the scene having hardly changed. The man's heart was still 'dead', although the doctors continued to try and revive him.

They had only a minute left now, and it was counting down fast, the fact only furthered by their more and more frantic attempts. From where she was standing in the doorway, the girl still had a look of shock in her eyes, her mind no longer attempting to hide the emotion. Already he could sense the seeds of doubt beginning to be planted in her mind as she stood there, watching as someone, a man that she had helped operate on only minutes before, die in front of her eyes.

The newly arrived Doctor was already preparing to go back in and try to assist the other medical personnel in the room, but as Angelus continued to watch the scene, he silently counted down the final minute in his head, and as he reached zero, the majority of the doctors in the room fell silent, one of them unplugging the heart-monitor in order to stop the constant sound of the flat-lining to stop.

"It's over." Riley said finally, breaking through the silence that had rapidly filled the room to its capacity. "We get him back now, he'll just be brain-dead."

"But, he was just alive, what the hell happened?" Buffy asked, causing him to look towards her as she spoke. By now, the emotion that he had seen in her eyes had flowed down into her voice, 'infecting' it at every possible turn. None of the other personnel in the room stepped up to answer her, once again infecting the room with silence. As the girl turned and walked out of the room, Angelus helped the dead-man to his feet and began to escort him over to the other realm, his thoughts still on the girl that he had seen.

There was something about her that was..._interesting._

* * *

She continued to climb the stairs, one set after another, one foot at a time. She was barely keeping the tears back now, and it showed in the way her body 'shuttered' with every few steps that she took. Finally she stopped, taking a seat on one of the steps in the process. The stairwell was otherwise completely empty, with no other sounds making their way up through the air from below.

She finally just let the tears start to fall down her cheeks, the very tips for her hair stopping a few of them while the others flowed down off of her cheeks and flew towards the ground. The sun continued to shine through a nearby window, covering her body with its light, as if it was trying to comfort her in someway.

_I wasn't fast enough, I shouldn't have left the room to get something to eat, I wasn't fast enough, I wasn't fast enough, I wasn't fast enough, I wasn't'… _The sentences spread through her brain like wildfire as she continued to cry. _Wasn't fast enough, Wasn't…_

"I wasn't fast enough." She managed to slip out between sobs, the sound of it echoing down the stair-well. She could still hear the sound of the flat-lining heart monitor, still see the sight of the doctors around the table giving up and stopping their attempts to save him. It was all still so fresh in her mind that to see it happening for a second time made it even more eerie than when it had originally happened.

_Wasn't fast enough, wasn't fast enough, wasn't fast enough…_

* * *

He watched as she continued to cry, her thoughts 'screaming' out to him as he looked at her, the tears rolling off of her cheek. She couldn't sense him, and yet, for some reason, she had looked straight at him in the hallway, if only for a few seconds, as if she had seen him but then lost sight of him again, like any other human would. That alone had perked his interest even further than it already had. There was something about this girl that fascinated him. Now that he was closer to her, she looked vaguely familiar in some way that he couldn't quite place…

Reaching out with his hand, he touched one of her tears, the action going unnoticed by the girl as she continued to cry. He could feel the liquid on his finger-tip, and he looked at it for a few moments, although the sensation from the liquid's touch was oblivious to his body. Still, he wiped the tear off onto his pants, again receiving no sensation from the action.

The girl's tears were beginning to stop now, the number of them falling down her cheek dropping off as she wiped them off on the back of her hand, proceeding to do the same with the remaining few that remained on the edges of her eyes. She rested her head on her hands for a moment before she started to get back up onto her feet.

She didn't immediately start to make her way back down the stairs, but he could already tell that she was getting ready to do so at any moment. In response, he got back onto his own feet and leaned against a nearby wall in order to continue watching her. He didn't know what it was about her that continued to grab his interest, but he couldn't seem to shake it. It wasn't an 'interest' in the way that some humans would call 'sexual', but an interest in the way simply because she seemed to have something inside her soul that wasn't common.

She _cared_ about people. Even those that she didn't know, or hadn't met.

* * *

"She_ what_?" Spike asked, the disbelief in his voice overwhelmingly apparent as he stared back at Angelus.

"She saw me."

"You're bleeding mad. What do you mean 'she saw you'?"

"Exactly what the sentence means, Spike. Somehow she saw me." He replied, the slight breeze blowing against part of his coat. The sun was just starting to set in the distance, the glow from it stretching across the entire city as far as the naked eye could see. Not bothering to face his friend, Angelus was silent as he looked across the city.

"Once again, are you mad?"

"No. She saw me. I passed by her in the hallway at the hospital, and she looked up just as I came into a place where she could have seen me."

"Maybe she just looked up because she thought she heard something somewhere else."

"No, this was a reaction as if she knew I was there."

"Well, that's interesting, isn't it?" Spike answered, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket and moving to light it. "Would seem as if you almost _wanted_ her to see you."

"Now its _you_ that's sounding like you're mad."

"Oh, don't give me that, peaches. It's obvious you're attracted to the girl. You don't think it's happened to others before?" Lighting the cigarette, the other angel shoved his lighter back into his pocket and looked out across the city.

"I'm not attracted to her, Spike. I'm just simply interested in the way she feels her emotions."

"Whatever you say."

"You don't believe me."

"Actually, no I bloody _don't_. I've known you long enough to know when you're lying."

"Or so you think."

"I don't think. I _know_." Turning his head, Angelus faced the angel standing beside him.

"Then you know that such a thought would be impossible to reach. Even if I was interested in her in a human romantic way, I wouldn't be able to be with her."

"Because you're an angel, and she's not."

"Exactly." Chuckling a bit, Spike took the cigarette out of his mouth and held it between two of his fingers.

"No-one ever said love was a fair thing."

* * *

_Forgetting all I'm lacking, completely incomplete_

_I'll take you invitation, you take all of me_

_I'm falling even more in love with you, letting go of all I've held onto_

_I'm standing here until you make me move, I'm hanging by a moment here with you_

As she lay on her back watching the ceiling, Buffy let the music wash over her as it poured out of her stereo's speakers. She couldn't honestly say that she was feeling better than she had earlier, but still, at least she wasn't breaking down alone in an empty stairwell. It was almost completely dark in the apartment, but in some ways, she liked it being this way, the darkness allowing her imagination to make shapes out of all the objects scattered about her line of sight.

It was almost three A.M. now, and she once again faced a night with minimal sleep. She had desperately tried to get back into the dream she had been having earlier, but she had found the rest she sought to still be elusive. Outside her window, the sound of cars passing by leaked in, mixing into the air along with the music. The song's volume itself was low enough that it wouldn't disturb her neighbors, but it was loud enough to drown out any other noise within the room.

_I'm living for the only thing I know, I'm running and I'm quite sure where to go_

_And I don't know what I'm diving into, I'm just hanging by a moment here with you_

It was going to be hard going back to work and acting like nothing had happened, but she would do it, bury her emotions like she always did. It was something that she had always been good at, even when she had been a child. She barely remembered being in the hospital room when her grandfather had died, and how everyone had been in tears, and she had just sat there, her emotions almost completely dead.

For some reason, that was one of the earliest thing she could remember about hospitals, the other being that her cousin had died in the same exact hospital two years later. When she had been younger, she had been almost completely petrified of anything having to deal with hospitals, but when she had entered high school, she had…grown interested in them for some strange reason, seeking out information on them every chance she could get. She couldn't explain it, but for whatever reason, she had decided to seek out a career in that field once she had graduated.

Maybe it had been because after her parents had divorced, she had looked for anything to distract her from the feelings that the end of her parent's marriage had generated inside her. She could still remember the few nights that she had spent before they had decided to split, the fights that they had thought she wouldn't hear through the floor.

On her stereo, the song had changed finally, the new song starting off almost silently before it grew louder once the drums and electric guitars kicked in. Listening silently to the singer, Buffy closed her eyes and tried once again to fall asleep.

_I tried to climb your steps, I tried to chase you down_

_I tried to see how low I could get down to the ground_

_I tried to earn my ways, I tried to change this mind_

_You better believe that I tried to beat this_

_When will this end, it goes on and on_

_Over, and over, and over again_

_Keeping spinning till I know it won't stop_

_Till I step down from this for good_


	3. Rain

**Alright, sorry for the delay in updating. School just started again, and even though I have a Creative Writing class in my schedule, we're only working on poetry right now, so I don't really have much time during the day to work on my stories :( . I'm still working hard on them any chance I can though, so don't fear!**

**Also, sorry for this chapter being slightly shorter than the last one was. Once again, I blame the department of education.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy or Angel. They belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. **

**The poem that Angel listens in on is "The Hollow Men" by T.S. Eliot. I don't own this piece of art.**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

As she picked up yet another candy bar from the machine, Buffy could already hear Riley walking down the hall towards her, his shoes squeaking slightly on the waxed floor. It had been an almost entirely uneventful day so far, but she could already tell from the way that the man was carrying himself that something was going to change. Raising herself back to her full height, she waited until he was almost directly in front of her before she started to talk.

"Look, Riley, I told you, I'm fine." She said, starting the sentence before he had even stopped walking.

"And I told you, I don't believe you." He replied, coming to a stop in front of her as she rolled her eyes at his response.

"That's your problem, not mine. Now look, I've got to go assist in another operation in about half an hour, so can we please finish this conversation?" She answered, walking around him and starting to head back towards the operating room, the candy bar still held in her hand.

"You're not taking part in the operation."

"Excuse me?" She asked, the thread of disbelief running through her voice overwhelmingly apparent as she stopped and starred back at her colleague. Taking a deep breath, Riley prepared his response, already choosing his words carefully in an attempt to prevent her from getting even more worked up than she already was.

"Doctor Chase wanted me to tell you that they've delayed the operation until tomorrow. There have been concerns about how you handled yourself yesterday."

"Once again, _excuse me_? How_ I_ handled myself? _You're_ the one who gave up, I watched you!" Her voice had risen in volume, but she kept it restrained enough so that she wasn't truly shouting. No matter how mad she was, she was still at work, and shouting in a hospital would bring nothing but trouble to both parties. Still, the weather outside seemed to go hand-in-hand with her mood, with a loud crack of thunder erupting through the hallway just before Riley began to reply.

"Buffy, calm down, it's only a delay; they're not canceling it completely. You should really just go home and get some sleep."

"You're saying that they don't trust that I've gotten enough sleep?"

"Come on, Buffy, anyone can see it on your face." He responded, still trying to calm her down with his tone.

"Alright, fine, I see how it is. I'll go home; it's obvious I'm not wanted here right now. Maybe the people who live in dreamland will accept me." She answered, turning on her heel and walking off towards the locker room, Riley following her closely, trying to think of something to say in response to what she had said.

"Buffy, look, will you just stop and listen to me?!" He said, the frustration he was feeling starting to creep into his voice as he rushed ahead of her, effectively preventing her from entering the locker room.

"Fine. Speak your words." She replied, crossing her arms over her chest in the process. Looking down at her, Riley took a deep breath, giving himself a few seconds to compose himself before he started to speak again.

"_No-one_ is saying that you're incapable of operating. All of us are just a little concerned for you. You yourself said you weren't sleeping well, most people behave erratically under those situations."

"Uh-huh, I see." She replied, her arms still crossed over her chest. "So you're all being paranoid over how I'm not sleeping."

"Yes, I mean no, _damn it!" _

"Move, Riley. I'm going home." She said, pushing her way past him and into the locker room, shutting the lock in the process to avoid having to hear anything else that he had to say. Finally giving up, Buffy could hear the man's footsteps as they walked off further down the hallway until the echo finally stopped leaking underneath the door. Sighing, she rested her head on her hands, shutting her eyes only for a moment. It was true that she still wasn't sleeping well, but at least she had still showed up, feeling a hundred percent or not.

They just weren't ever happy about anything.

* * *

For as long as he could remember, Angelus had always been drawn towards a certain aspect of human life. Books. Written words. It didn't matter what, as long as it was considered to be some form of expression. As often as he could, he would find himself amongst the various citizens who used their time to read the various works of literature that crowded the shelves of the local building. There was one in particular to he always seemed drawn to, possibly because of its popularity compared to other such places within Los Angeles, but more likely due to the wide selection of material it contained.

As he passed by the numerous mortals, he could often hear their thoughts, which was useful considering that he wouldn't want to simply lift up a book, the action being seen by the humans for all intends and purposes as a floating book, something 'supernatural' that struck fear into their hearts. It wasn't as bad as it had once been, with people gathering in the streets simply because of the rumor that a witch was in their midst, and thankfully those days were long gone.

As he passed one of the more elderly men, he managed to catch a snippet of what the words on the page were, the very sound of the delivery perking his interest. Stopping in his tracks, he came to the man's side and continued to listen in on his thoughts, the words filling up the page unlike anything he had ever heard before.

_Shape without form, shade without colour,_

_Paralysed force, gesture without motion;_

_Those who have crossed_

_With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom_

_Remember us—if at all—not as lost_

_Violent souls, but only_

_As the hollow men_

_The stuffed men._

As he continued to listen, Angelus found himself more and more intrigued by the poet's word, the way the words flowed together as a whole. He had heard many poets before, had even help some of them pass over in his time, but the words he was hearing now fit into a category all their own. Leaning against the table behind him, he continued to listen, already telling from the man's body language that he was getting ready to leave as soon as he finished the page.

_Eyes I dare not meet in dreams_

_In death's dream kingdom_

_These do not appear:_

_There, the eyes are_

_Sunlight on a broken column_

_There, is a tree swinging_

_And voices are_

_In the wind's singing_

_More distant and more solemn_

_Than a fading star._

_Let me be no nearer_

_In death's dream kingdom_

_Let me also wear_

_Such deliberate disguises_

_Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves_

_In a field_

_Behaving as the wind behaves_

_No nearer—_

_Not that final meeting_

_In the twilight kingdom_

Closing the book's cover, the man gently carried it back to its shelf, and with the same gentle sense, pushed it back into place before he began to make his way towards the stairs. As the rest of the room's thoughts became mere background noise in his mind, Angelus slowly walked along the rows of shelves, his eyes catching sight of various titled and authors, some of the names he recognized from the passage of time.

Books were another one of his interests, the way the paper aged, but still retained its shape, the words on their pages preserved through so many years of use. Occasionally he would find an area devoid of a human presence, and he would skim through these works of art, his eyes and brain enamored by the knowledge within. If he could have had his way, he would spend the rest of eternity surrounded by these objects, spending each waking minute simply reading their printed words.

Nearby there was a window that had its curtains drawn back to expose whoever lay inside the room to the sight of the vicious weather outside, the rain continuing to pound against the windowsill with tremendous force. Stepping over towards the empty area in front of it, he stood and watched the scene outside, his eyes being met with various cars driving past and the occasional human running towards shelter.

Eventually, he eased himself into an empty chair that lay nearby, and he continued to watch the scene from his seat, simply letting his mind wander as he usually did.

* * *

Barely stopping to make sure her bike was locked and secured against the rack, Buffy rushed towards the dry interior of the library, breathing a sigh of relief as she opened the door and ran inside, the rain finally ceasing its onslaught against her clothing and body. Taking a few deep breaths, she tried to slow down her heart-rate back to its normal pace, the rush to get here in the pouring rain having taken a lot out of her.

As she continued up the stairs, she pulled off the hoodie she had been wearing, the article of clothing being, for all intends and purposes, drenched from the rain. Pushing open the door to the higher levels of the library, she took solace in how quiet it was within the building's walls. There were a few people scattered about here and there, but otherwise it was mostly empty, probably due to the storm still going in full force outside.

Wrapping her hoodie around her waist, she proceeded through a few of the shelves, skimming through the titles with her eyes. In truth, she tended to avoid the overly romantic titles that many other people her age enjoyed reading. She couldn't really put her finger on why she didn't like them, although she occasionally glanced on the thought that maybe it was because she hadn't really been successful in the relationship process, her luck in the area being the same now as it had been in high school. But then again, her popularity had dropped off after she had been dumped in front of everyone at the prom, so that could have possibly turned her off to the thought of a perfect happiness between two individuals.

Sliding her finger across one of the books' spines, she pulled it out, briefly breezing through a few of the pages in an attempt to get a 'feel' for the material. The pages themselves had the faint smell that often accompanied aging paper that had been left by itself for a while. Closing the cover, she silently read through the back of the cover, taking in the description that accompanied the usual "Best Seller" or "New York Times raves" reviews that always managed to find their way onto the book somehow. To be honest, she actually would have preferred it if they simply just had the description on the book, and nothing else.

Tucking the book underneath her arm, she continued on her way through the shelves, her eyes never once leaving the books that surrounded her.

* * *

His eyes continued to watch the growing storm outside, Angelus could hear the door behind him opening, the sound echoing through the room at a furious pace. He thought nothing of it until he once again reached out to the waiting minds throughout the floor, looking for something interesting to hear someone read. Some people had left within the past hour, no doubt wanting to head back to their homes before the full force of the storm unleashed itself upon the city, but a few still remained. As a result, he almost missed the emotion-drenched thoughts as they erupted through the woman's mind.

_I can't believe them. 'Worried that I'm not getting enough sleep'. They're ones to talk, especially Riley, of all people. _He recognized the 'voice' behind the feelings and thoughts almost instantly, and as he turned around in order to confirm his memory, Angelus found her wandering amongst the shelves, a few books held underneath her right arm. He watched her for a few moments, feeling strange for some reason in seeing her without her medical clothing on…_scrubs_, that's what they called them. A strange word, if ever there was one.

Before he even knew what he was doing, he was on his feet, approaching the bookshelf opposite of the one that she was on. He could barely even attempt to explain why he was doing this to himself, his mind racing with thoughts that ceased to calm themselves. He stopped behind the shelf where she was silently continuing to read the spines of the aging books. He could just see the top of her blonde hair above the various sizes of the books themselves, her thoughts continuing to ring out inside his head as he continued to listen in.

_I mean, so I _might_ have over-reacted, but _excuse me_ for showing some emotion in the workplace. It's not like I'm a human being or anything… _She sighed as she finished the thought, before she grabbed another book off the shelf and headed towards the deserted chairs that sat beside the window. He watched her as she sat down in the same chair that he had occupied only minutes earlier, and then silently took the seat opposite from her, his mind still filled with her thoughts, the emotions in them drenching every single word.

_God, if I knew they were going to be such hypocrites, I would have applied for a job elsewhere, considering how many hospitals there are in this city._ Her mind went blank for a moment. _Alright, Buffy, just calm down, just sit down and read the nice book. _

* * *

"Alright, look, I'm completely sick of all this bullocks you keep feeding me." Spike said, the aggravation in his voice shining through as he flicked his cigarette to the floor, his boot stamping it out in the process. "Just talk to the damn girl already!"

"I can't, Spike.." Angelus replied, his back still turned to his friend as he looked out across the city below. The sun still had yet to set, although the effect that it often held would be obscured by the clouds that still stretched across the sky, the rain having stopped mere hours ago, but the clouds themselves continuing to remain.

"I can't." He repeated, as if he was trying to convince himself of what he was saying.

"Bloody hell, you know, the whole brooding thing you've been doing for the past few days has really started to wear a little thin."

"Then leave, no-one is keeping you here."

"Why should I? You're the one brooding like some teenager in love for the first time." Turning back to his friend, Angelus took a few steps towards him, his sight never once faltering from the other angel.

"You of all people should know that we can't love, or should I remind you of Drus…" He started before the look on Spike's face changed, his eyes showing just a slight flicker of emotion before it disappeared completely.

"Don't."

"Then stop talking about this subject."

"Fine by me." Spike answered, turning towards the opposite end of the roof as he fished around in his pocket for another cigarette. Ignoring him, Angelus turned back towards the sun, closing his eyes as he tried to let calm thoughts rush over his mind.


	4. Storm

**Alright, once again, I can't thank you guys and gals who have reviewed this story so far enough. You all rock! :D Hopefully this chapter will have an event that some people will have been looking forward to :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy or Angel. They belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. I'm just playing around with them. I also don't own the movie "City of Angels"**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

The rain continued to pound against the window on the far side of the bedroom, only aiding in whatever force was preventing her from sleeping. Sighing, Buffy rolled over onto her back, opening her eyes and staring at the ceiling in the process, the pure white color visible even in the dark. The weather report hadn't been lying when they had said to expect heavy rain storms for the next couple days. Still, even if she couldn't sleep, she enjoyed hearing it rain. The sound of the drops making contact with the ground had always comforted her for some reason. She was sure that she wasn't the only one that the rain had that kind of effect on.

Giving another small sigh, she finally swung her legs over the side of the bed, and returned to her feet, moving swiftly through the dark, the layout of her apartment already engrained into her brain... well enough that she could find her way around in the pitch black. As she was halfway across the living room, the unmistakable sound of thunder erupted through the air, making her jump slightly as the sound continued on for almost a minute before disappearing as quickly as it had arrived, leaving only the sound of rain drops in its wake.

As she opened the fridge, she grabbed a bottle of water and upon closing the door, she leaned back against it, closing her eyes as she began to feel just how truly exhausted she was. She had to go on her shift in only a few hours, which left her little time to even _consider_ going to sleep, something that she knew she wouldn't be unable to do. As her brain continued to do its cycles despite the exhaustion she felt, she actually found herself considering going to therapy. Maybe there was some buried reason why she found sleep to be such an elusive thing. Something somewhere in her brain.

Or maybe it was just because, apart from her cat, she was utterly _alone_ in this apartment. No-one had ever come to spend the night, but then again, she hadn't met anyone who would have _wanted _to spend the night. Sighing, Buffy leaned her head back until she felt her skull meet the slightly cold door of the fridge. _God, I need to get out more._

* * *

As she peeled back another page of the mass of papers that had 'infected' her clipboard, Buffy steered her body into the room that was her destination. Inside it, only one bed was occupied, the other having been vacated only a few hours earlier. If there was one thing a hospital wasn't, it was a slow place. Making her way towards the last bed in the room, she almost gave a sigh of relief when she realized the other doctor was already here. Dealing with questions regarding someone's operation wasn't one of her stronger points, but she hoped that would change someday.

"Look, Mrs. Giles, I assure you, your husband's operation is completely safe. All we're doing is removing the tumor from his chest, and after that, he's as good as new."

"Still, I _wish_ you would explain it to me a little more." The wife said, stopping herself before she went even further. Giving his wife a small smile, Mr. Giles held back a chuckle from escaping his lips.

"Please, doctor, you'll have to excuse my wife. She's very protective about me in these sorts of things." He said, taking his glasses off momentarily to wipe them clean.

"Can you blame me?" Jenny added, taking a small side-step in order to stand at her husband's side.

"Again, It's a simple operation, I've performed them numerous times. You're not in any danger." Doctor Kelsun added, offering a small nod to Buffy as she came to stand beside him. "If you'll excuse me, I'm needed somewhere. Please direct any questions you may have to the young woman beside me." Giving one last nod to both Mr. and Mrs. Giles, Kelsun left the room, another assistant already waiting for him in the doorway.

"So, is he telling the truth, is it really just a _simple_ operation?" Jenny asked Buffy, eying the woman as if she had something to hide from her.

"I'm not really at liberty to say…" Buffy replied, struggling to find the right wording to let the two know that she _really_ didn't now. She was only an assistant after all, and hadn't really been brought up to knowledge on the technique that was to be used, although she still contained an extremely vague knowledge of it.

"Look, I don't understand why you won't tell us anything." Jenny answered, placing her hands on her hips in the process. "Is there some policy against letting the people who are paying for the operation into the know?"

"Jenny…" Rupert started before his wife stared back at him, fire raging in her pupils.

"No, Rupert, don't even try to calm me down this time." She turned her gaze back onto the young assistant.

"_Well_?"

"I'm sorry. I'm not at liberty to say, and I'm really nothing more than an assistant."

"_Typical_." Was all that Jenny offered in response as Buffy bit back her tongue and walked towards the door, her two patients staring into her back as she left.

* * *

Turning around the corner, Buffy barely managed to look up in time before she heard Mrs. Giles calling out her name from across the room. Her heart managing to skip a beat, the young doctor glued her eyes back to the clipboard as she moved herself towards the elevator situated only a few feet away from her. Seeing that her shout had not been heard, Jenny began to advance through the small crowd that occupied the room.

Quickly ducking into the elevator, Buffy smashed the down button with as much force as she could possibly muster, repeatedly pushing the button into the wires of the panel. In front of her, the doors began to close just as another outcry of her name rang out through the air. _Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on…_

As the doors finally came to a quiet close in front of her, Buffy leaned against the wall behind her, and breathed a sigh of relief. The elevator vibrated slightly as it continued on its way towards the lower levels. She had a vague idea of who to visit down here. Although she wasn't on excellent terms with every single medical personnel at the hospital, but she had at least found someone that had slightly gone out of her way to be nice to her in every possible way. Willow Rosenberg.

Willow was a nice red-headed girl who always spoke with a slight thread of nervousness running through her voice. She herself admitted that most medical procedures, such as surgeries and burns made her slightly nervous and jittery, but she still had obtained a degree in the subject, although she still had a received numerous nightmares during her studies. She herself rarely ventured out of the maternity ward, her reasoning being that she felt truly at peace there.

As she the elevator doors opened, Buffy walked out and was instantly confronted with an otherwise deserted hallway, the soundproof windows that surrounded both sides of the hallway preventing any sound to penetrate the air. However, the windows themselves offered passers-by glimpses into the various rooms that made up the maternity ward. She didn't really know what it was that had caused her to come down here in particular, her mind simply making her feel as if it had been a good idea to come and see the various newborn infants.

Stopping for a moment, she peered into one of the rooms where some of the younger children played various games with each other, the current one involving an extremely bright orange-colored ball. Buffy smiled as she watched them, a few memories from her own childhood coming to mind for a moment. As she lost herself for a moment in her memories, she didn't notice Willow walking up behind her, the red head looking at her for a moment before she realized that Buffy didn't notice she was there.

"Buffy?" She asked again, taking a step back when the blonde finally turned her head and jumped slightly when she saw her friend standing there.

"Oh, jeez, Willow, way to sneak up on me."

"I didn't sneak. You just weren't paying attention." The red head replied, chuckling a little underneath her breath.

"I wasn't? Guess I was distracted."

"Life not being all happy up on the higher levels?"

"You could say that." Buffy sighed as the words escaped from her lips. Looking back at her friend, Willow gave her one last smile before she took her hand.

"We can discuss it over in my office. No point in us just hanging around out here in the hall."

* * *

"So, can I take it that something went wrong with that operation?" She asked, opening the door to her office in one-swift motion. Buffy waited a moment to respond before the two of them had passed through the door to the red-head's office. As the door shut behind them, she turned to face her friend.

"Not really. The man's wife won't leave me alone." She said, taking a seat in front of Willow's small desk.

"Jeez, what for?"

"She acts like she should know every little thing that happens during that operation. Not that I completely disagree with her, but why take it out on me?"

"Oh, she's one of _those_ people. I had to deal with one of them the other day. They can get pretty annoying. Especially in my department."

"Overwhelmed father and overprotective mother-in-law?"

"Yep. They're lucky that I don't like confronting people." Willow answered, again offering a small smile to her friend.

"Hell know no fury like an angry Willow Rosenberg."

"You know it!" The two shared a laugh before the tone of the room again turned somewhat serious.

"So…has Riley asked you out yet?"

"What?" Buffy replied, disbelief coursing through her voice. "_Riley_? Asking _me_ out?"

Yeah, I saw him making eyes at you one day."

"Are you going_ crazy_?" Buffy asked, staring back at her friend with confusion in her expression.

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger!" She answered, holding her hands in front of her in a mock gesture of surrender. Smiling slightly, Buffy felt her pager going off inside her pocket. Gripping the object in her palm, she got back onto her feet and headed towards the door.

"I've gotta get back to the madhouse. I'll talk to you later, Wills." She said, waving at her friend as she opened the door and stepped out into the hallway.

"Ok, good luck!" Willow yelled back, again offering her friend a smile.

* * *

Walking through the hallway, Buffy again checked her clipboard, the times she had done so slipping from her mind. Part of her regretted taking someone's place on the graveyard shift, but at least it beat staying at home for yet another sleepless night. Besides, the extra hours would look good on her record later on in life. Letting the paper in her hand slip out of her fingers, she looked around the deserted hallway, the whitewash color of the floors and walls covering her vision.

Apart from one figure, standing near a doorway near the stairs.

Blinking for a moment in order to make sure she wasn't simply seeing something conjured up by her sleep-deprived mind, she stopped in her tracks momentarily.

"Can I help you, sir?" She asked, taking a few steps forward in order to better see the man's features, his black clothes standing out like a sore thumb. As he turned around, his stance contained something that looked like shock, or surprise, the emotion coursing through his eyes as well, something that she could see even in the dim-night time lighting.

"You can see me?" He asked, the expression on his face matching the tone in his voice perfectly.

"Well, considering all the black clothing you're wearing, I'm surprised they couldn't see you from the first floor." She replied, letting her excellent command of sarcasm sink fully into her voice. "Or were you going for 'The Cure' type look?"

"_You can see me_." The emotion in his voice had changed for the moment, the shocking and surprise giving way to something that sounded like a mix of happiness and excitement.

"I thought we just covered that." She answered, dropping the sarcasm from her voice like the tip of a hat. "You do realize that visiting hours ended over an hour ago?'

"Are you alright?" He said, the question itself momentarily throwing her off-guard. There seemed to be something slightly off about the man, for lack of a better term. There was virtually no-one else around the two of them, save for the occasional janitor making his usual rounds. Still, the man didn't seem threatening at all, and Buffy actually found herself becoming slightly at ease within his presence, as if she knew from the way he carried himself that he meant her no harm in any fashion. It was a strange feeling, one that made her momentarily lose her thoughts.

"Uh, what?" She asked, shaking her head in an effort to clear her thoughts.

"I asked if you were alright."

"I'm fine. Why'd you ask?"

"You seem sad, like there's something that happened and you blame yourself for it."

"_How did you_…?" She mumbled underneath her breath, her own eyes lighting up with shock. Slowly, she managed to answer the man. "There was an operation."

"A man died."

"Yes."

"And you blame yourself." He finished, completing her thought completely. "You feel like you could have done something to prevent it."

"I wasn't fast enough, I could have left earlier and…" She started, her words threatening to run together.

"People die every day. It's a natural thing. Nothing can fully prevent it." The sentence itself made sense, but at the same time, there was a complete lack of emotion that surrounded it, as if the man himself had never lost anyone close to him, which Buffy found hard to believe.

"Not in my profession. Not in front of _my_ eyes." She replied, closing her eyes and bowing her head for a moment.

"It's not your fault." The man repeated, the words themselves so simple and yet so empowering.

"Thank you." She said, the words coming out off of her lips in nothing more than a whisper. The man smiled at her for a moment before he vanquished the action from his face, allowing the emotionless stare to return to his features.

"You're welcome."

"I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?" She asked, scouring her memory in order to remember if he had mentioned it.

"Angelus."

"Angelus. That's a pretty name." She replied, giving a small smile in his direction. "So, are you a friend of Mr. Giles'?"

"You could say that."

"Once again, visiting times ended over an hour ago. You should get out of here before security finds you. Not saying that I'm going to call them."

"I'll do that, take care of yourself, Buffy." He replied, turning towards the doors to the stairs, the black coat he wore around his body momentarily flapping against his back. Turning on her heel, Buffy took a few steps before she stopped, realizing that she hadn't told the man her name.

"Hey, wait, how did you…" She started before she realized that Angelus wasn't there, the doors to the stairs remaining closed, signaling that he had somehow managed to slip out without making a sound.

"Well, that was weird."

* * *

"You realize that you're bloody mad right now, right?" Spike asked, tossing the cigarette between his fingers to the ground, stamping out the butt with his boot.

"She _saw_ me." Angelus replied, his eyes still focused on something in the distance. There was a slight amount of shock and amazement in the fact that the girl had actually talked to him, had actually _seen_ him in the flesh. The things he had felt inside afterword, they had been unlike anything he had ever experienced in all of his years.

"Then she must have been in need. Did you at least do something besides gawk and stare all wide-eyed at her?" There was something in Spike's voice that seemed to be reminiscent of amusement, something that Angelus had heard many times over the centuries.

"She was sad, so I offered the things she needed to hear. Hopefully it did something for her." He replied, finally turning his gaze onto his fellow angel.

"Well, you'll probably be checking up on her soon enough anyway." A few people continued to walk by, their steps showing no signs of the two angels having been discovered. Watching as a young female walked by, Spike momentarily followed her stride before he gave a small chuckle and reached into his pocket, letting his fingers fall across the small book that every angel carried on his or her person.

"I have to now, Spike. I'm involved in her life now." Angelus spoke up, collecting his fingers and folding them underneath his chin. "She's not getting these emotions out in the open. You know as well as I how unhealthy that can be for a human."

"Just _say_ it, you want to see her again."

"What I _want_ and what I will _receive_ are two entirely different things."

"You can disguise it however you want, peaches, you're in love with the girl, and having to go help her simply gives you a reason why you have to."

"Then it sounds like something finally worked out for me." Giving Spike a small smile, Angelus got back onto his feet, and gave the distant horizon one last look.


	5. Should I Fall?

**Alrighty, here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it! Sorry for it being a little on the short side, I really felt conflicted on how to end this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy or Angel. They belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. I don't own the movie "City of Angels" either. Just having fun pairing things up.**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

All around him he could hear the thoughts as the humans silently read their books, the words of the various authors jumping out at him with varying degrees of human emotion behind them, giving each of them their own distinctive meaning. As he continued to listen, Angelus was once again reminded of why he loved coming here. It was to hear the constant wonder of the ways humans had described emotions that they had experienced over the centuries. It would always remain a thing of interest for him, as long as he continued to exist.

He was still in a state of awe over how his meeting with Buffy had gone. She had actually _seen_ him, had actually_ talked_ to him as if he was a human. He had heard of such things happening before, but all of the documented cases that other angels had kept had told him that it was such a rare thing, it was considered to be simply a legend. They could only appear to those close to dying, and nothing more. That was their purpose, their existence. They could be nothing more to the humans, as time had degreed to them.

That was their fate, and it would continue to remain unbroken. Despite any attempt that any of them would ever dare to make.

* * *

"Buffy, can I talk to you?" Rolling her eyes, Buffy turned to face the man behind her, every one of her senses telling her to tell him 'no.'

"What, Riley?"

"I was wondering, are you doing anything over the weekend?" _Oh god, please no… _She thought to herself, forcing herself to not roll her eyes in front of her comrade.

"No."

"Then, could you and me…" He started before Buffy held up a hand, effectively interrupting him.

"No." Was all she offered, turning her back and walking down the hall towards one of her patient's rooms. Even before he had started talking to her, Buffy knew what Riley had wanted to ask. After what Willow had told her the day before, she wasn't the least bit surprised, and had actually been properly prepared for it. She hoped that he wasn't too hurt by what she had said, but in time she knew that he would try again, expecting a different result. _The beginning seeds of insanity… _she joked to herself.

As she entered the room, she found Mr. Giles leaning back on his bed, looking almost completely relaxed, even with the fact that he had gone through a major operation only a day before. The way he was handling himself didn't surprise her, but it was an uncommon thing. Most people would be somewhat stressed over the fact that something could go wrong, and although most of the time their feelings were unfounded, sometimes they came true. Closing her eyes for just a moment, she pushed all of those thoughts away and focused on her patient.

"So, how are you feeling?"

"Fine, thank you." He replied, looking up at her as she came closer, her clipboard in hand.

"Any pains that you might have?"

"None that I can say I've observed or felt."

"Well, you let us know if you do. We're at your disposal." She answered, writing a few notes down on the paper before her.

"I hope my wife wasn't an inconvenience to you before. She can become quite protective of me at times."

"No, no, really, it was fine. I've had to deal with that before."

"I would imagine so, given your line of profession." The man replied, smiling at her. Buffy returned the smile, taking her gaze off of her clipboard in the process.

"Just comes with the job I guess."

"Still, I hope that you will accept my apology for her behavior. She truly means well in what she does."

"How long have you two been married?" Buffy asked, pulling a chair up from behind her in an attempt to rest her legs for a bit. She had barely stopped moving since she had arrived for her shift, and her body had promptly responded to that.

"Close to twenty years."

"I take it you met her in England?"

"Ah, I assume my accent gave that away?"

"Yeah, you could say that. We Americans don't talk so _bloody_ strange." Buffy joked, chuckling a little as she finished her sentence. "That was a joke, hopefully you got it."

"Yes, quite. I must say, I'm still trying to get used to the dialect here. There are times I wish that you lot would simply use the English language in its proper form."

"Sorry, that went out the window a few centuries ago."

"Tell me, are all Americans as sarcastic are you are?"

"Some. You should have asked for the non-sarcastic assistant." She answered, barely holding back a laugh as she spoke. The room grew silent for a moment before Buffy could feel her pager vibrating through the pocket of her scrubs.

"I've gotta go. It was nice talking to you, Mr. Giles." She said, returning to her feet with her clipboard once again in her hand.

"The same to you." As she left, Giles waved at her, smiling for a moment before he turned his attention back to the small TV centered in front of his bed.

* * *

The night air was calm and still as Angelus watched the man sleeping peacefully in his bed. He wasn't sure exactly why he had chosen to come to this room, apart from being that it was just mere feet from where he had first spoken to her. The experience rarely wasn't the single thing he thought of now, despite every attempt he made to focus on his duty. The girl occupied every inch of his mind, rarely allowing his thoughts to stray from her.

If he had been a human, he would have felt some degree of emotion regarding her. At the moment, he couldn't feel anything but something that could only be described as both curiosity and obsession. Neither of the two things were cast in the dark light that they could have been, but again the feelings fascinated him. Was he really falling for this girl, a human no less?

"I can't see you, but I know you're there." The man suddenly said, forcing the angel's thoughts to return to the present. The man's eyes were open now, and although their gaze didn't fall upon him, Angelus knew that the man was speaking directly to him. Again, his thoughts crossed on a human emotion that he had heard described many a time in the various books of the world. _Shock_. "Show yourself, I'm not dead yet."

"How did you know I was here?" Angelus asked, allowing himself to be seen by the mortal. In an instant, the man's expression changed, his lips morphing into that of a smile as he turned his head to look upon the angel.

"You have guts to show yourself. Close to twenty years of silence, broken in a single action." As the man's response flowed through his ears, Angelus perked up his eyebrow.

"Twenty years of silence?"

"Look, you can tell all of your friends that I'm not even close to death yet. You can't have me so easily." Slightly taken aback by the man's words, Angelus was silent, observing the man's expression as he stared back at the angel.

"You can't possibly tell me that isn't the reason you're here. I've sensed you hanging around here for the past few days…._unless_…."

"Unless what?"

"Could it be the assistant? The blonde-haired young woman who comes here?" As he finished the sentence, the man chuckled, his gaze never once faltering from the angel.

"An angel in love with a human. It's rather quite poetic, if I do say so myself." For the first time in his entire existence, Angelus was speechless. Staring back at him, the man smiled.

"Ah, I see, you're confused. Not to worry, I can answer any questions that you might have." He said, swinging his legs over the side of his hospital bed.

"Come. I'll explain everything, but first, let's get this dreadful hospital air out of my lungs."

* * *

The cars continued to pass by underneath their feet, the sound of their engines almost deafening. Lifting the cigarette to his mouth, Giles took a deep breath as the smoke filtered through his lungs.

"They told me that these things would be the death of me." He said, holding the cigarette between his two fingers. "It's strange to think that someone will come to me at the end of it all, the same way that I used to."

"Why?" Angelus asked, his gaze never leaving the man's face as he continued to smoke.

"Why?" Giles echoed, smiling for just a moment, he gazed out across the city, the lights overwhelming his vision for a few moments. "There are times I wonder that myself. It all seems like a dream that you rest on so many times that eventually you convince yourself that it was real."

"It _was_ real. You gave up being one of us."

"So I did. Can you blame me?" He replied, taking another puff of his cigarette. "It's fate. An instinct to escape from whatever or whoever you've become attached to. Sooner or later, we all feel it coursing through our bodies."

"I fell in love." He continued, turning his eyes back upon the angel. "It's such as simple thing really. I found a girl that was the most beautiful creature in all of this world."

"And you couldn't stand the thought of living in a world without her."

"Indeed. So I fell. Gave up my wings, so to speak. I gave up forever, simply to be with her."

"_What_?" Angelus asked, his attention focused solely on the man's words as he spoke.

"Ah, it wouldn't surprise me that you're not aware of such a thing. It's something that is often considered to be a myth amongst your kind. " Giles replied, dropping the cigarette from his hands and letting it fall to the ground below. "If you jump from the highest point of the sky, you'll fall and when you awake, you'll be a mortal. Flesh and blood. You'll be able to feel emotion, pain confusion, all of it." Smiling, he turned towards Angelus once again.

"You'll be able to touch another, truly _touch_ someone, and with all the sensations that come with it." Silence grew between the two before Giles spoke once again.

"You're in love, aren't you?" He asked, chuckling a little underneath his breath. "Ah, of course. Why else would an angel want to fall, to give up immortality? It can only be for that single element of forbidden fruit. Love itself."

"How did you know?" Angelus asked, a tone running through his voice that suggested he was beyond the point of amazement, or at least the emotion as a human could understand it.

"I can see it on your face. You can't hide an emotion as strong as love, passion, lust. All of them are among the strongest things a being can ever feel in their lifetime."

"But angels can't feel…"

"_Bullocks._ That's simply what you've forced yourself to believe over time. A millennia of being separated from the humans, and being only able to fully touch them when their lives are at an end, it wears thin on your emotions, your mind itself. No, angels can feel, you've just simply forgotten how to."

"But to forget something that strong…"

"All it takes is someone who can fully awaken those passions within you. For myself, it was my wife." Reaching into the pocket of his jacket, Giles pulled out his wallet, fishing around inside its contents for a moment before he found the photographs he had been searching for. Taking them out of their protective covers, he handed one of them to the angel.

"My wife and child." He explained, once again looking out across the city, the glow from the various street lights shining on his glasses. "They're the light of my world."

"They're…beautiful." Angelus replied, struggling to find the words that Giles would find acceptable. In his entire existence, he had never talked to a single human as long as he had at that very moment.

"Yes, they are. Every day I look upon them, I'm reminded of why I gave up being an angel. It was to experience love in its finest form."

"Would you recommend doing that?" The angel asked, refusing to flinch as the man looked into his eyes. Finally breaking his gaze, Giles looked down at the cars passing by below.

"Yes. If you truly love this girl, if you want to be the one in her life to touch her, protect her, live with her, and when the time comes, go into the light with her, then yes."

"Fall."


	6. Apples And Oranges

**Sorry about the wait since the last chapter. I had a bit of writers block, but hopefully it's passed. So, enjoy! :D**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy or Angel. They belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. I don't own the movie City of Angels either.**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

"So, he just accepted that you said no?" Willow asked, setting the newborn back down into its 'bed' as it continued to sleep. "Just like that? I kinda find that hard to believe."

"Trust me, I was just as surprised as you. I half expected him to try and come after me, force me to tell him why." Buffy replied, smiling as she looked down at the baby. Since his failed attempt to ask her out, Riley had made himself scarce around her, managing to only talk to her during an operation or if she tried to start a conversation. To say things were somewhat awkward would be an understatement.

"Careful what you think about. He might just show up and ask again."

"Good plan. Attempt something again and think that maybe you'll receive a different result."

"The seeds of insanity?"

"Yep." The two shared a muted laugh as they headed for the door, stepping lightly in order to avoid waking any of the sleeping babies. As she quietly shut the door behind them, Willow pushed a few stray strands of her red hair behind her ear before she continued with the conversation.

"So why did you turn him down? He wasn't your type?" She asked, leaning against the door itself as she waited for her friend to answer.

"Not exactly…"

"You're interested in someone else?"

"Way to be subtle, Wills." Buffy answered, rolling her eyes in the process.

"Was just a question. Come on, answer!"

"_Kinda_…"

"Come on, you can tell me."

"I met this guy, he was hanging around after-hours the other night." She replied, choosing her words carefully. "Said he was a friend of one of my patients. The thing was he was…_nice_."

"Nice in a looking way or nice in an emotional way?"

"Both."

"You're kidding. What was he like?"

"I can't really describe it. It was like watching some kind of romantic movie where the pretty girl gets the handsome but emotional and sensitive man. This guy was kinda like that, only without all the mushy music playing in the background. "

"Tell me you got his name."

"Angelus."

"That's kind of a weird name. But a good kind of weird, not a bad kind."

"I thought it was pretty." The intern replied, thinking back to how the name had flowed off of the man's tongue. "It's unique."

"Don't suppose you'd find too many people with that name floating around."

"True. Still, I'll have to ask Mr. Giles about him. Maybe he'll come around again."

"Is that hope I hear in your voice?"

"Maybe…"

* * *

The sea air was fresh on Angelus' face as he and the man walked along the sands, the sun just barely beginning to flicker on the horizon. Everything that Giles had told him over the past few hours was still running through his brain, infecting every corner of his conciseness. He could fall, become a human, he could experience everything that he had been fascinated with for decades.

He could be with Buffy.

But how would he tell her? Was she even interested in being with him? Did she even hold an emotion in her heart for him? These questions continued to press heavily on his brain, making him doubt even the very steps he was taking. At his side, Giles was as silent as he had been for the past half hour, his bare feet ignoring the sand and water passing between them.

"I know what you're thinking." He said finally, ending the silence between himself and the angel.

"Enlighten me."

"You know with every inch of your heart that you have feelings for this girl, but you don't know if they shall be returned."

"Oh?"

"There's really only one solution to that problem." The former angel replied, his English accent laced over every word. "Spend more time with her, get to know her. In a word, _take your time_."

"Time seems to be the one thing I have plenty of in this world. That and memories."

"As all angels do. There are things I miss from that time, and things I don't. The immortality is not one of the more favorable ones."

"For the first time in my entire existence, I'm beginning to agree with that line of thought." As the words left his lips, Angelus could see the sun in the distance beginning to rise, with the unmistakable sight of figures clad in black clothing dotted along the shoreline. Even from where they were standing, Angelus could hear the song already calling out through the air as the sun began its day-long reign of the sky. Closing his eyes for a moment, the angel basked in the sound, as he had done every day of his existence. Beside him, Giles was silent as he himself watched the sun-rise, only vaguely aware of the other angel's presences around him.

"Can you hear it?" Angelus asked, opening his eyes and looking at Giles as the man continued to watch the sunrise.

"No." The word was almost drenched in sadness as they left his lips, his eyes still focused on the rays of sun spreading out across the landscape. "I can remember it's sound, however. Is it still as beautiful as it once was?"

"Yes."

"I'm ready to go back now." Without another word, the angel and the man began the walk back to the hospital.

* * *

The paper underneath her hands felt slightly rough and aged, the sensation a welcomed change from the clipboard that she had been carrying around for the past few hours. Her blonde hair flowing freely down the back of her neck and shoulders, Buffy's gaze flowed over the page, absorbing every word. The sun shining outside continued to be her light, and as its rays shined through the window, it continued to warm her body. The feeling was another welcome change from the constant storms that had flowed over the entire city for the past week.

"Enjoying the book?" A voice asked, causing her mind to slip from the book she held in her hands, as her gaze lifted from the page she caught a man's eyes, the brown color of them strikingly familiar.

"Angelus?"

"Hello, Buffy." He replied, giving her a smile in the process. As she gazed at his smile, Buffy slowly returned the smile, the effect feeling somewhat awkward to her.

"What are you doing here?" _God, what a stupid question to ask. Its a public library, he's obviously here to get a book._

"Just passing through. It's always so peaceful here." He answered taking a seat across from where the young intern was seated. "I've always liked it here."

"I know what you mean. I come here every once in a while. It's nice to get away from the chaotic place that is my work-place."

"Have you been feeling happier?" The question itself stunned her for a moment in its bluntness, but the young woman recovered quickly without having it show on her face.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you feeling better than how you felt at the hospital, the night I talked to you?"

"Oh, I see. Yes, much better. Happy Buffy." She replied, her response sounding somewhat awkward.

"Are you sure?" _Damn it, stop pressing the issue! _

"Yep, utterly, totally, one-hundred percent sure." As she finished the sentence, she flashed him a smile, to which he simply stared back at her.

"What, do I have something in my teeth?" The smile still didn't fade as she spoke, hoping to draw a laugh out of the man seated before her.

"No. It's just that, you're a hard person to read emotions out of. It's fascinating."

"That's an interesting way of describing me. Can't say I've ever heard anyone say that."

"I didn't mean to offend you. Sorry."

"No, no, I'm not offended. Caught off-guard, yes. Why did you think you had insulted me?"

"Simple human response I guess." He replied, shrugging his shoulders in the process. "Again, sorry."

"There's no need to say sorry. You're being really funny with this." She answered, again smiling at him. "So, do you want to go somewhere where we don't have to whisper when we speak?"

"Sure. What did you have in mind?"

* * *

All around them, the sound of music flowed through the air as one of the local blues bands played to a delighted crowd. Taking in the sights, Angelus tried his best to look like an average human being, despite not being able to taste any of the foods that surrounded him or smell any of the smells that went hand in hand with the marketplace that he and Buffy now found themselves in. She seemed to be enjoying herself, for which he was happy to see her smile. Considering that from all that he had observed, he had rarely seen her smile, but had instead seen her be sad, furious, and at times completely emotionless. Almost as emotionless as she had been when he had seen her all those years ago when she had been there at her grandfather's deathbed.

The thought that he had seen this girl before, and had been equally fascinated by her emotions startled him somewhat, although that fascination was now outweighed by other feelings for this beautiful girl that was walking beside him now. Feelings that only weeks, months, even years before he would never have even dreamed of having. Was this fate's way of telling him that things were going to change? He had read, seen, and heard enough over the course of his existence to know that fate could change a person's 'hand' at a moment's whim. That was fate, and there was never any use in fighting it.

"So, what your favorite kind of fruit?" She asked, catching him strangely off-guard with the question.

"What?"

"I know it's a weird question to ask, but you have to have some kind of fruit that you prefer over all of its other fruit-brethren, right?"

"Um, I guess. You answer first."

"I asked you first!"

"Um, yes…"

"Ok, fine." Buffy replied, playfully rolling her eyes in the process. "I love apples. Always have. Your turn." Staring down at the woman, Angelus searched his memory for the name of a particular fruit that he had at least had some interest in.

"Oranges."

"There, was that so hard?"

"Yes?" The response drew a small amount of laughter from Buffy, making her smile once again.

"So you're a comedian, huh?"

"I try to be." He replied, smiling at her. "You have too pretty a smile for me not to make you laugh."

"Thanks." She answered, looking in the opposite direction to avoid blushing. As they passed by a tray of oranges, Buffy grabbed one and offered it to the man walking beside her before handing a stray dollar bill to the cashier.

"Here you go. One orange in all its orangy goodness."

"Thanks." Slowly and awkwardly, Angelus took the fruit, examining it once with his eyes before taking a bite into the fruit, the taste remaining unknown to him.

"It taste alright?"

"Yes." He lied, turning his eyes away in order to avoid lying straight to her face.

"Mind if I have bit of that? I haven't anything all day except a candy-bar."

"You seem to eat those a lot."

"Breakfast of champions." Buffy said, adding to the response with a small grin. "Besides, I'm not really the kind of person to bring food to work."

"I take it you don't like to pass around your food?"

"I don't play well with others." She joked, moving a few stray strands of her dirty-blonde hair out of her eyes. "Never have, never will."

"Were you like that when you were young?"

"Pretty much. I mean, I got in trouble in Kindergarten for punching a girl who stole the crayon I was using."

"Why?"

"I needed the red one, and I had the only one."

"And so, you hit this girl?"

"I apologized later. Still, I don't regret doing it. Gave me a small rush now that I look back on it."

"You got a rush from hurting another human being?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe. Doesn't mean I'm going to go on a rampage and hurt a bunch of people. That's why I work in a hospital, I like to help people. Just a case of typical child behavior." Looking down at her watch, Buffy sighed for a moment before she turned her attention back to Angelus.

"I've gotta get back home. I want to at least try and get some sleep before my shift tomorrow. Plus I have to feed my cat."

"Alright." The word was laced with sadness as the words left his lips.

"We should meet up again sometime. I…I had fun today. Thanks."

"You're welcome. Again, I like seeing you smile."

"Well, goodbye, keep safe." Buffy said, keeping her eyes on the man for a few seconds more before she turned to leave, reaching into her pocket for the keys to the lock on her bike. Casting one last glance over her shoulder, she found him still standing there, the orange she had bought for him still held in his hand. He was smiling as he looked at her, before gradually, he turned and faded into the crowd, eventually disappearing from her line of sight all together.

"I want to see you again, Angelus."

* * *

"So, you're really going to go through with this?" Spike asked, for once not having a cigarette in his mouth. "Fall and become a human, just like that?"

"I said I was considering it. Nothing's definite yet." Angelus replied, his eyes on his feet as the two angels walked across the rooftop.

"Just bloody do it. It's obvious that you love the girl." The other angel answered, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "I mean, I've been putting up with you complaining about how much you love this girl more than anything on this Earth. It wears thin."

"Love isn't a one-sided coin, Spike. I have to know that she loves me as well." He stopped and looked out across the rapidly darkening city. "Otherwise I'd be utterly alone in this world."

"So ask her. The straight-forward approach and all that human talk."

"It's not that simple. When I talk to her, when I can physically touch her, I feel _different._ I can barely think straight, it's like my emotions are controlling everything I do."

"You're turning human. We can't feel those emotions."

"Didn't you hear what I told you about what the old man said? We _CAN_ feel those emotions, we've only forgotten them. It takes something important to unlock those feelings within us. For me, it's Buffy. For you, it was Drusilla."

"I thought I told you not to mention her."

"Spike, look, the point is, you can't tell me that when you were with her, you weren't one of the happiest angels on the fact of this planet."

"And now, look where I am."

"I'm sorry I brought it up. But I'm telling you, we_ CAN_ feel emotions, just like the humans. We _CAN_."

"Whatever you say, peaches. If you're happy, don't let me spoil it."


	7. You're The One

**First off, sorry for the long wait between updates. I got really into writing two of my other stories, and this one had to take a back-seat for awhile. But now its back! Again, this fic won't be following the source movie to the letter, but it'll still follow the same general idea.**

**So, as always, enjoy! :D**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy or Angel. They belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

As the sun peeked through the closed curtains, Buffy groaned as a stray ray of light shined directly onto her eyes, momentarily blinding her. She had suffered through another night of gaining hardly any sleep, and as the day loomed ahead of her, she was thankful that she had the day off. Going to work and trusting her with sharp instruments when she was hardly awake was obviously not a good idea. Rolling over onto her side, she desperately tried one last time to find sleep amongst her tired mind. Opening her eye slightly, she found a pair of light green ones staring back at her.

"Bad kitty. Let Buffy sleep." She said, shutting her eyes again before she felt the unmistakable sensation of the cat's fur rubbing against her face.

"Come on, _please_, I'll feed you later." Again, her cat rubbed its face against her own, the sound of the animal's purring starting to float up to Buffy's ears.

"I'm _begging_ you, just let me sleep for _five_ more minutes." Still, her cat refused to lift its assault again her body, its purring growing even louder than it had been only mere moments before.

"Alright, alright, I'm getting up. Jeez, you really know how to show someone that you want fed, don't you, Alanis?" Looking up at her owner with her green eyes, Alanis meowed once and leapt off of the bed, heading for the kitchen. Swinging her legs over the side of her bed, Buffy could feel her head erupting into a slight headache, most likely due to the lack of sleep that she had been suffering from. Making her way into the kitchen, Buffy could already see Alanis sitting in front of her food dish, her green eyes looking up at her owner.

"I'm here, I'm here. Keep your paws on." Grabbing the dish, the young woman poured some of the food into it, before setting it back down onto the floor, much to the delight of the cat.

"There, happy?" The cat didn't respond, causing Buffy to roll her eyes. "No, don't mind me. I'm going back to bed."

* * *

Looking out the slightly dirty window, Angelus could see a few citizens below making their way towards wherever they thought they had to go. Smiling slightly, the angel would have laughed at the entire situation, had he been a human. His mind was still filled with the thoughts of experiencing these human emotions that he had been obsessed with for centuries now. Giles had been right, however, and he could feel something that could be described with only one word. Love.

He loved this girl that he had known for almost two weeks now. Her heart and spirit spoke to him, filled his head with thoughts that he couldn't dislodge from his immediate subconscious. She covered every inch of his heart with her human emotions, feelings that he could sense even when he wasn't trying. As he looked across the city, he longed for her touch, and for her love. It was the only thing he wanted in this entire world.

The sun was just beginning to set in the distance, the day starting to end and give way to its sister, the night. As he watched the yellow glow disappear in the horizon, Angelus thought of what Buffy might think of the way the sunset always looked when it was viewed from the right height. In truth, it had been written about by many of the poets across the ages, the way the colors overtook the sky and cast its influence across the entire world, but it was an entirely different thing to view it in person. Even written words could not contain the beauty that the sun created.

Buffy and the sun. The two things seemed to fit perfectly into the same sentence.

* * *

"You look tired today." Looking up from her food, Buffy fought back the urge to chuckle.

"And that's such a nice thing to say to a woman. Really, whoever taught you to talk?" She replied, using her sarcasm to her advantage. "No, really, it's fine. I just don't sleep very well."

"Why not?" Angelus asked, his own food hardly touched. "Too much on your mind?"

"I really don't know. I've been to a couple different people, and they've all told me different things. Some say it's a disorder, some say it's because of stress."

"And what do you believe? I mean, you're in the medical field yourself."

"I don't know what to believe. I'd like to think that it's because I live alone."

"Why do you feel like that?" He asked, taking a bite of the food as he finished his sentence.

"Just do." Buffy shrugged, continuing to play with her own food. "Loneliness, I guess. I've never been really successful at having relationships."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Really nice discussion topic, isn't it? Let's discuss my almost none-existent love life." She joked, rolling her eyes in the process. "I'm just not good at holding interest in people. They tend to get bored with me."

"I don't see how that's possible." He answered, offering her a smile.

"Thanks." Smiling back, Buffy took a bite of her food and quickly swallowed it as she looked at the man sitting across from her. "Really though, I've been told that I can bore people."

"Again, I don't think so."

"Guess you're the only one."

"What makes you say that?" He asked, continuing to ignore the food in front of him.

"Just have the experience to back it up. Really, I'd rather not talk about it."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure." Buffy nervously chuckled. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You're the one who brought it up."

"Guess I did, didn't I?" She chuckled again, letting her gaze drop to the plate in front of her. "Alright, do you really want to hear this?"

"Not if you don't want to tell me." She smiled at the remark.

"Thanks, its fine. Basically, I had a boyfriend in High School, and I got burned. _Bad_. He basically left me right before Prom and then I basically gave up on getting a relationship."

"Why did he leave you?"

"That's the worst part. I never got any reason. He was just there one day, and then poof, gone." Shoving another bite of food into her mouth, Buffy set her fork down onto the plate before reaching for her glass.

"So, that's my love-life. How about yours? Any bad feelings left after a lost lover?" She asked, brushing a few stray strands of her hair out of her eyes.

"None that I can think of. Never really had a relationship at all."

"Really? Wow, that's…that's hard to believe."

"Why do you say that?"

"No-offense, but the way you handle yourself, it's like you could care less about how something or someone makes you feel. It's rather refreshing to be honest."

"Thanks. I…I try my best." Angelus answered, resting his chin on his folded fingers.

"I'm serious, I've really never seen a person who can take emotions and make them seem like nothing. It's interesting." Looking up at the clock, Buffy pushed her chair away from the table.

"It's getting kind of late. Guess you'd better get home. I've only got one bed here and that…doesn't work." She said, grabbing her plate before taking Angelus' as well.

"Right. How have you been sleeping recently? Any better?"

"Fine. If you count getting only about two or three hours a good thing." She said, depositing the dishes into the sink and leaning against the counter.

"Did you find out what's causing it?"

"Not yet. The last doctor I went to said he'd call me in a couple days when he got some results. No call yet." Turning towards the sink once again, Buffy started the water and let the dishes sit for a few seconds. "Well, good night."

"Night." She heard him say, and then all fell silent within the house. Twisting her head, she looked to see if he had opened the door, but it remained closed, nothing out of place from where it had been over an hour ago.

"Sure is silent, isn't he?" She asked, looking over at where Alanis was perched on the countertop. Looking back at her owner, the cat simply meowed in response.

* * *

Tossing and turning, Buffy groaned as she once again found sleep to be an elusive thing. The pills she had been prescribed had yet to kick in, leaving her wasting the night away as she tried to fall into even the lightest sleep. In the darkness that surrounded her, the alarm clock only a feet away glowed with a faint green light, the numbers eight-oh-five staring back at her.

"Damn it." Pushing her head deeper into the pillow, she closed her eyes, her mind begging her for rest. She was at least thankful that she had agreed to take a few days off from work, considering that she was running on only two or three hours of sleep now. Every night, things had been gradually getting worse as the amount of sleep she had been getting continued to shrink.

Outside her room, the world continued to pass by.

* * *

As she pushed the door to the roof-access open, Buffy could already hear the sound of Riley using the basketball hoop that someone had installed on one of the lower areas of the roof. Picking up the ball, it was obvious that he hadn't heard the door shutting behind her. Taking a few steps out onto the roof, she could hear the sound of the passing cars down below, only adding to her desire not to look down.

"Riley!" She shouted, hoping that he would hear her over the combination of both the cars and the ball hitting the hoop itself. Stopping for a moment, she could see Riley look back at her, as he let the ball come back to him before he began to walk over to her. The sun was nearing the end of its reign in the sky, and it showed in the way the colors skipped across the normal blue color of everything that surrounded it.

"Hey." He answered, his voice lacking any tone or emotion.

"Hey." She replied, repeating the word with the same deadpan sound. Looking back at her, he frowned for a moment as he realized what she was doing.

"Look, I'm sorry if I've been avoiding you recently. Just figured you weren't interested in even talking to me after what I asked."

"Why's that?" She replied, keeping her emotions hidden from him as the words left her lips.

"Come on, Buff, it's pretty obvious that you weren't even really interested in talking to me that day, so I figured something was up with you, and decided to give you some space."

"Fair enough. Trust me, I wasn't looking forward to having that conversation."

"Because you're not interested in me." He answered, his voice again lacking any emotion, although his eyes betrayed the sadness that erupted in his heart.

"No." Stopping for a moment, Buffy took a deep breath before she continued. "I'm not interested in you like that."

"That's all I needed to know." He turned back towards the basketball hoop, bouncing the ball back and forth against the ground as he walked.

"I'm sorry." She answered, watching him for only a moment more before she turned and headed for the door. Behind her, the sun continued to set, casting a reddish-orange color across the sky.

* * *

The sun had almost completely set as she continued to walk through the park, with only a few people passing her by as she made her way along. It looked warm enough outside, but the slight chill in the air somewhat betrayed the way the entire world had been perceived. Looking around, Buffy momentarily stood and looked at the sunset, the colors that spread across the sky mesmerizing her. It was said that Los Angeles was one of the best places to witness a sunset, and as she watched the yellow ball of light disappear on the horizon, she agreed with every inch of her heart.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Turning, she wasn't surprised to find Angelus walking towards her, his usual attire of all black standing out against every color around him.

"Yeah. Suppose you know a lot about them." She replied, smiling as he came to stand beside her, his eyes focused on the setting sun.

"Oh, yes." He answered, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "I've heard a lot about them. They sing a beautiful song for those with the ears to hear them."

"That a bit of poetry you read somewhere?"

"No, it's true." He replied, looking down at her with a small smile adorning his face. "All you have to do is know what to listen for. It's the most beautiful sound in the world."

"I'm sure." The air grew silent between them for a moment, their attention focused solely on the setting sun.

"So, I imagine there's a reason you always have a way of finding me." She finally said, cutting the air with the sound of her words. "And I imagine that it not simply coincidence."

"They say that fate shows paths to many different people."

"You're very poetic today, huh?"

"You could say that. Poetry is one of the oldest ways of expressing opinions or emotions."

"Thanks for the history lesson." She replied, throwing a hint of sarcasm into her voice. "In all reality, why are you so interested in me? Not that I hate the attention, I just find it a little…odd. I mean, we just met each other two or three weeks ago, and I feel like I've known you all my life."

"I don't think I've ever been so interested in someone before. It's like…I've waited for you all my life, and now that I've found you, I feel at peace."

"I…I don't know what to say." Buffy answered, turning away for a moment as the two of them fell into a slow step, simply walking along the path with no particular destination in mind. There was almost no-one around now, with some of the more paranoid people wanting to get indoors before the night overtook the city. Normally, the young intern would do the same, but as Angelus kept walking beside her, his stance never once changing from its pleasant feeling, she felt safer than she had ever felt at night in the city.

"You don't have to say anything."

"Why don't you ever look at me the same way you look at other girls?" She asked, stopping in her tracks.

"What?"

"You look at me like I'm some sort of jewel, like I'm something rare and meant to be handled with care. Anyone else that you look at doesn't mean anything. What's so different about me?"

"You're the one." He said, the words leaving his lips just as he smiled at her, the gesture melting something within her.

"I'm the _what_?" She said, a small chuckle making its way past her smile.

"You're the one." This time he said it with more conviction that he had before, his tone showing that he had never been more sure of something in his entire life.

"Prove it." She said, waiting for his response. Leaning down, he pressed his lips against hers, the action being returned by Buffy as she felt her heart skip a few beats in her chest. Around them, the night continued to grow older, with each passing second watching the two of them. Finally, the two of them pulled themselves apart from one another. Looking up at the man in front of her, Buffy smiled with genuine emotion.

"Ok, I believe you." She said, smiling as he looked down at her. He smiled back at her before leaning down and kissing her once again, the minutes again slipping away.


End file.
